CHAPTER 29:
The longer we keep him on the ground the better.
Jim's words became something of a mantra in Carol's mind, repeating and reminding her that there were more important things than her personal fears. She wanted nothing more than to be back on the Enterprise, or to make a run for it from that shuttle and take her chances in the untamed wilderness of Ceti Alpha V. She would rather deal with unknown alien life forms than the likes of Khan.
But Jim had risked everything to get the ex-despot off the ship and onto the planet on a gamble that it would give Spock and the crew some advantage. She wanted to believe that it was their only chance, so she intended to do everything she could to keep Khan on the planet until the captain told her otherwise, or until Khan stopped her—which didn't sound like a pleasant prospect in the least.
As soon as Khan landed and made the exchange for Marla, he seemed to have lost all interest in Carol, to her great relief. So long as he associated her with her father, she knew he only needed one reason to snuff her out like a candle. Though she knew how useless obstacles were between Khan and his target, she still felt safer and braver for having Jim there.
Thus far, Khan's scrupulous focus was on repairing the shuttle. Carol didn't necessarily want to draw attention to herself by sabotaging his work, so when Khan reentered the shuttle, she was afraid Marla was going to snitch on her. What followed instead was completely unexpected.
When Khan came in from the rain, his eyes were instantly on Marla, who stood apart from the others, her back facing them all. He made a straight line for her, each step slowing the nearer he came. He hovered close at Marla's back and Carol could see his hands stretch then close as if changing his mind. It was the first time she had ever observed such indecisiveness in the man who apparently excelled at everything. Then tentatively, as if afraid to make any sudden movements, he pulled Marla into an embrace.
Carol couldn't help staring at the scene as it unfolded. Khan and Marla spoke quietly to one another, and though only a few words could be made out, she could hear the smooth tones of their voices. Jim self-consciously turned his eyes away, in some attempt to offer them privacy. But he was all too aware of the intimacy being exchanged, she could tell. It was so surreal to Carol, however, that she was uncomfortable for different reasons.
At first, it all made her angry. She couldn't help thinking how much of a fool Marla was for being so enamored with such a person, how blind she had to have been. According to history he was a tyrant and to Carol he would always be the man who savagely killed her father, a sight and sound she could never erase from her memory, let alone her own physical pain of a shattered leg that accompanied it.
He was a beast, no matter how genuinely he seemed to express love and tenderness to Marla. And yet, the way he looked at her and touched her showed how precious he thought her to be, reminding Carol that even a man like that could feel affection. He wasn't purely evil or heartless, he was still a human (though enhanced). She hated herself for being aware of that.
What was worse, it made her think of her father, who had fallen from being a hero in her eyes to a megalomaniac. Neither her father nor Khan were quite what they appeared to be, and seemed to have contradicting layers that made them especially dangerous. There were too many similarities between them and the realization made her mind go in a direction that she didn't like.
What if it was her father who made Khan what he was?
No, no, no. Even if the conflict between Admiral Marcus and Khan was mutual, she couldn't allow herself to begin making excuses for the augment. He was a warlord long before her father was even born—it was programmed into his DNA.
But how different would things have been if he was never blackmailed and controlled by Starfleet?
Her father tried to bottle a hurricane, and by making Khan believe his people were dead in the first place, he started a snowball effect that ultimately killed thousands of people. And somewhere in all that subterfuge and manipulation, Marla was caught in the middle. Marla had no practical use to Khan anymore, he had nothing to exploit from her at this point. Carol also couldn't ignore the fact that he conceded to the armistice with Kirk when it would have been easier to kill him. There was also the fact that Jim had followed Khan out into the rain and both returned unscathed. What were they doing out there?
It was a long while that Carol was lost in her thoughts. After the display of obvious reconcilement between Khan and Marla, she bandaged his ghastly wounds, then he returned to his tinkering in the cockpit. Meanwhile, Marla curled up in the pilot's seat to watch him. She must have finally had peace of mind enough to relax, because the red head quickly fell asleep.
"Jim…" Carol said quietly to the captain, who sat tiredly beside her, his arms folded over his chest and his chin dipped a bit. But he wasn't asleep. "What happened out there? When you followed him outside?"
After a pause, he shrugged. "I talked to him."
He made that sound so normal and she stared at him for elaboration. "What about?"
"He's convinced that this will all end bloody."
"And you don't?" She could tell he didn't by the skeptical look on his face.
"I don't think it has to…" The captain's brilliantly blue eyes shifted away from her to glance at Khan's back as it faced them. "But it all depends on him."
"What does?" She was almost afraid to ask. For as long as she's known Kirk, his plans were rarely simple or assured.
"I'm going to make a deal with him."
"Do you really think he'll be open to any ultimatums?"
"It's not an ultimatum. It's a chance, pure and simple. I think I can afford to give him one."
Khan gave them a chance once: to go down with their ship. She was unnerved by it all, but she trusted Jim's judgment. "You know he won't surrender."
"I won't either…" he tore his eyes away from the busy augment. The captain leaned in close to her, closing the proximity between them to speak so quietly she could feel his breath and still barely hear him. "You saw what I just saw, didn't you? Between those two?" He nodded subtly towards the fore of the shuttlecraft. "If you would have heard what he was saying to me out there, and how he was saying it… He's tired, Carol. It doesn't really show, but I can see it. He'll fight tooth and nail to the end because he doesn't know what else to do anymore. I think he's forgotten that there's more to him than war and conquering. But Marla hasn't forgotten. If it wasn't for her, we wouldn't have ended up here and I never would have been able to actually talk to him. Actually, we've managed to stay here longer than I thought…."
Carol opened her mouth to let him know that it might have been from her little act of sabotage, but she didn't want to interrupt him when he continued.
"I think I can reason with him and offer a peaceful solution."
Maybe she wasn't so crazy in humanizing Khan after all. But it still made her wary. There was still very real danger.
"I can't imagine him settling for anything less than complete surrender," she couldn't help the cynicism.
"I think he'll settle for a planet."
Carol stared.
That came out of nowhere and left her momentarily stunned. "The planet…?" She had to repeat it to be sure she heard it correctly. "You mean this planet? Ceti Alpha V?"
"It's the only decision I can make that would save lives," he looked intently at her, sounding more confident than his eyes actually were. "As the captain, it's my responsibility to do what I can to make sure no one dies under my command, whether it's my people or his."
"But your mission…" she feebly reminded him, finding it a weak argument. "Starfleet won't just forget that they trusted you with seventy-three prisoners…"
"I'd rather sacrifice my career than seventy-four lives," he responded so quickly, and counted Marla in the number, that she was rather impressed. Not that James Kirk ever cared about doing what was expected of him. "Even if by some miracle I could get them back in their cryo-tubes, I'd be handing them over as property of the Federation. Genetically engineered or not, they're human beings. They fled Earth for a second chance… and I want to give it to them."
"I think you're forgetting why they were exiled in the first place…" she was playing the devil's advocate, for her sake more than his, because this crazy idea sounded frighteningly appealing. "They were trying to purify the human race by killing and subjugating anyone they considered inferior…"
"You can't argue with the basic principle, though. Their endgame was to end all wars."
She eyed him critically.
"Okay, yeah…" he quickly added with a wince. "Their methods got a little out of hand… But if we left them here, all of them supermen and superwomen, on a brand new world of their own… They could create a civilization that could one day pave the way for the rest of us. And if it could be founded because one member of Starfleet finally showed them some compassion…? I'd like to think that could start them off on the right foot."
"Jim…" She gently laid a hand on his and looked him in the eye. "You could lose your command over this."
"That's assuming I live through it," he smiled.
She didn't think it was so funny. "How are you possibly going to suggest this to—"
Carol stopped abruptly when Khan was suddenly moving in their direction. He only glanced to them once, clearly disinterested in their little conference as he bent down onto one knee and pulled a panel from the floor. It was the same panel that she had delved into earlier to disrupt the shuttle's functions, and she couldn't help the slight widening of her eyes as she watched, her throat suddenly dry.
Khan paused as he looked into the floor—her heart was pounding in her ears—and slowly one long finger demonstratively lifted the frayed ends of circuits into clear view. Jim saw the damaged wires and she could tell by the look on his face as he turned to her that he knew she had done it. She now wished she had told him when she had the chance.
"Well, that certainly accounts for the controls being dead, despite all of my repairs…" Khan's voice reverberated with sarcasm. When his eyes lifted to peer beneath his brow, they landed on Carol with a spark of ominous silver. "It seems we have rats on board."
